TOPIC: Land should be part of public agricultural land; title is void where land is inalienable and may

be cancelled even in the hands of an innocent purchaser for value.

SPOUSES PALOMO v. CA
[G.R. No. 95608. January 21, 1997.]

MATERIAL FACTS:
On 1913, the Governor General of the Philippine Islands issued Executive Order No. 40 which
reserved for provincial park purposes some 440,530 square meters of the land situated in Albay.
Subsequently, the Court of First Instance of Albay ordered the registration of 15 parcels of land
covered by EO No. 40 in the name of Diego Palomo. Diego Palomo donated these parcels of land
consisting of 74,872 square meters which were allegedly covered by Original Certificates of Title to
his heirs, herein petitioners in 1937.

On 1953, Ignacio Palomo filed a petition for reconstitution with the Court of First Instance because
the aforesaid original cerificates of title were lost during the Japanese occupation. On 1954, resident
Ramon Magsaysay issued Proclamation No. 47 converting the area embraced by Executive Order No.
40 into the "Tiwi Hot Spring National Park," under the control, management, protection and
administration of the defunct Commission of Parks and Wildlife. The area was never released as
alienable and disposable portion of the public domain and, therefore, is neither susceptible to
disposition under the provisions of the Public Land Law (CA 141) nor registrable under the Land
Registration Act.

The Palomos, however, continued in possession of the property, paid real estate taxes thereon 9 and
introduced improvements. On 1971, petitioner Carmen vda. de Buenaventura and spouses Ignacio
Palomo and Trinidad Pascual mortgaged the parcels of land covered to guarantee a loan from the
Bank of the Philippine Islands. On 1974, the Republic of the Philippines filed for annulment and
cancellation of Certificates of Title involving the 15 parcels of land registered in the name of the
petitioners.

ISSUES:
Whether or not the ownership of 15 parcels of land in Tiwi, Albay which form part of the "Tiwi Hot
Spring National Park and not considered as disposable and alienable.

RULING:
The decision of the CA is hereby AFFIRMED

RATIO DECIDENDI:
The adverse possession which may be the basis of a grant of title in confirmation of imperfect title
cases applies only to alienable lands of the public domain. There is no question that the lands in the
case at bar were not alienable lands of the public domain. As testified by the District Forester,
records in the Bureau of Forestry show that the subject lands were never declared as alienable and
disposable and subject to private alienation prior to 1913 up to the present. 16 Moreover, as part of
the reservation for provincial park purposes, they form part of the forest zone.
It is elementary in the law governing natural resources that forest land cannot be owned by private
persons. It is not registrable and possession thereof, no matter how lengthy, cannot convert it into
private property, 17 unless such lands are reclassified and considered disposable and alienable.